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‘ [290] of bullets that swept the wood just after I saw him enter it.’ He was with Sedgwick when that general was wounded; and at the same time his own horse was shot under him, while a bullet passed through his coat, and another broke the scabbard of his sabre. In recognition of his gallantry in this battle, General McClellan bestowed on Lowell the office of presenting to the President the trophies of the campaign; and he accordingly visited Washington, the bearer of thirty-nine colors taken from the enemy. This was a high honor, and by the customs of the service equivalent to a recommendation for promotion. In the midst of the excitement caused by this important victory, Lowell writes to his mother, on the 19th of September, a few pencilled lines on an official blank, in which he begins, ‘We had a severe fight day before yesterday’; then mentions some casualties among officers known in Massachusetts; and after a brief statement of the general results of the battle, closes without one syllable of the brilliant part he has himself played in it. From time to time, in the course of this summer, the project of a new volunteer regiment of horse, to be commanded by Captain Lowell, had engaged the attention of the authorities of Massachusetts. In August he writes: ‘As to a regiment, I have given up all idea of it very willingly. . . . . Your scheme of a regiment of gentlemen, even if practicable, would not suit me at all. What do you mean by “gentlemen” ? ‘Drivers of gigs’?’ In November, however, he was ordered to report to Governor Andrew, for the purpose of organizing the Second Massachusetts Cavalry, of which he was appointed Colonel. This work kept him in the neighborhood of Boston through the winter and spring of 1862-63. During this winter, the first regiment of negroes raised in the North was projected by the government of Massachusetts. Colonel Lowell was strongly interested in the success of this movement, and he aided it with his counsel and his influence. He was heartily pleased with the selection of Colonel Shaw as its leader. ‘It is very important,’ he writes (February 9),
Sever and Francis, 1866.
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